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In the 1960s, Baltimore Maryland’s Fort Carroll that had been built on an artificially created island in the Patapsco River once sported a large number of cannons. But they were not real.
When the fort was first constructed, military plans called for 225 cannons on three levels. By 1917, the U.S. Army deemed the fort as nonessential and began removing all the cannons, a project that was completed by 1920. In 1923, the War Department declared the fort as excess property but did not act upon its disposal. Finally, in 1958, the government sold Fort Carroll to Baltimore attorney Benjamin Eisenberg.
Mr. Eisenberg had big plans to make the island a tourist destination with a slots casino, hotel, and restaurants. One of his projects included the making of replica cannons that were once used at the fort. His plans folded when a judge ruled that the fort was in Baltimore County and not Arundal County where slot machines were legal at the time.
Over the years, other development proposals, both public and private, have all fallen through. But what happened to the replica cannons? Today, brush overgrowth on the fort’s parade grounds might be obscuring their view. However, that would not explain the missing cannons that once stood on the fort walls next to the lighthouse. Perhaps some of our readers will know the answer to solve this mystery.
This story appeared in the
Jul/Aug 2020 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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